Latest helpfulness...
Wave off
We’ve taken a break from testing how much electricity washing machines use to answer a question about microwaves.
Sandra Storr asked us to look at the one-time ovens of the future, as she’d heard that they used as much power on standby as they did during cooking.
Through the mangle
Just before Christmas we hooked up our washer-drier to the power meter we’ve been using to test how much power typical home and office appliances use, and measured the electricity it consumed in a 60-degree wash.
Greenwashing?
With visiting relatives in need of clean bedclothes, table cloths picking up stains from wine, cranberries and chocolate, and tea towels mopping up more than their usual share of dishwater, Christmas is a pretty busy time for the average family washing machine.
Screen test
Last week we found out how much power a typical office PC uses in a week, but that’s only the box that sits under the desk. Surely the computer’s display uses a fair amount, too?
How easy is it to switch energy supplier?
We’ve been testing how much electricity our typical household appliances use, but when working out the cost we’d been using a figure of about 9p per kilowatt hour (kWh). It turns out this is a little on the cheap side.
IT all adds up
Ever wonder how much electricity your home appliances are actually using? We’ve been plugging a power meter into various electrical goods in a bid to find out the truth.
Girl power
Recently, we’ve been using a power meter to find out how much electricity our domestic appliances are using, and asking for polite suggestions where we could stick it next.
Barbara McStravick suggested that we connected up to the electrical products used in a daily beauty routine, so one intrepid Living contributor has done just that.
Cold comfort
The fridge is the latest household gadget to fall under the spotlight of our power meter, and the results are curdling.
Broadcast news
Remember our recent experiments with a power meter and various household appliances? This week it was the turn of the television.
We don’t watch TV much, but last weekend saw a jamboree of English sporting losses and the first live X Factor final, so our trusty telly got a decent workout.
In our element
Last week we came over all geeky with a plug-in power meter. Using it, we found out that brewing a cuppa costs about half a penny, but found ourselves wondering how much a week’s worth of cuppas cost.
